Encounter: Man Born Blind
Jesus Gives Sight
John 9:1-41
Rev. Tim Callow
Preached Sun. March 19th, 2023
One question that has troubled me is how I might have responded to the ministry of Jesus if I were a Jew or a peasant in 1st century Galilee. I’m sure we all wish we would be part of the crowds who flocked to see him. Perhaps we might imagine ourselves as some of his ardent disciples. But the gospels tell us even Peter denied him in the end. And three times at that. There’s a very troubling passage in Mark’s gospel where Jesus’ own family tries to seize him claiming he has gone out of his mind. If anyone knew Jesus you’d hope it’d be his family. And then the religious experts from Jerusalem arrive and allege that it is only by being in league with Beelzebul, that is Satan, that he casts out demons. Many times the people you’d expect to get Jesus, don’t. And the people you don’t expect to get Jesus, like the syrophonecean woman who breaks into his house and begs him to heal her daughter, do.
I’d like to think I’d be the syrophonecian woman, or the centurion who sends his servant ahead to say “I am not worthy that you should come under my roof, but only say the word and my servant will be healed.” Jesus said he hadn’t seen such faith in all of Israel. And yet, I have biblical knowledge like a pharisee. I have the wealth of a tax collector. And who is to know how I might respond even today to the Spirit moving where he will. Who knows how I would respond even today if Jesus were to pass on by.
Our gospel reading this morning hammers on this point. How are we to recognize the work of Christ in our midst? How are our eyes opened? How do we see Jesus? How can we be sure of the work of God in our midst in whatever form it might take? We are told there is a man who was blind from birth. Jesus’ disciples ask how it is that this man was born blind. Was it his sin or the sin of his parents? It’s an odd question to ask, but such questions were not uncommon in those days. Jesus tells them this man was not born blind on account of anyone’s sin, but that he might heal him and show forth his glory. Because Jesus is the light of the world, giving light to the eyes.
Jesus then spits on the ground, makes mud from the dust, and puts it in the mans eyes. He commands him to go to the pool of Siloam, which means Sent. And how ironic is that, the one who is sent to save us sends the man to the pool of Sent. There the man washes out his eyes, and he can see.
One might think this would be a joyous occasion. A blind man received his sight! But it’s actually a moment of crisis. First, his neighbors have no idea what to make of the situation. Is this really the man who was formerly blind? Is it his doppelgänger? How did it even happen? Not knowing how to make sense of the situation, they send him to the pharisees to look for answers. But the Pharisees are upset because the healing took place on the Sabbath, when no work was to be done. Let alone a healing. And they are upset because he attributes the healing to Jesus, who they are sure is a sinner. In the end, they cast the man out of the synagogue because he will not recant. This man, Jesus, healed him. Once he was blind, and now he can see. A sinner could not do such a thing. A prophet could not do such a thing. No one has ever heard of a man blind from birth receiving his sight. Why, such a sign points to one thing. Jesus came from God.
When Jesus hears that they cast him out he returns to find him, and reveals his identity as the Son of Man. When the formerly blind man begins to worship him Jesus says, “I cam into this world for judgment so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind.” And here is the punchline. There are some Pharisees mucking about and they hear Jesus say this. “Surely we are not blind, are we?” They ask. After all, they have the scriptures, they have the tradition, they have the training, they have the smarts, they do the work. Surely they can see? But Jesus replies, “If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, ‘we see,’ your sin remains.”
Jesus performs a wondrous work. He heals a man who was blind from birth. But in so doing he renders the pharisees blind. They have a blindness far worse than physical blindness. They have a spiritual blindness that prevents them from seeing the works of God.
Why can’t they see the power of God in Jesus’ encounter with the man born blind? But because Jesus heals on the sabbath, which is not according to their tradition. Jesus does not act in the way they expect their messiah to act. He does not come from where they expect their messiah to come from. And he is not part of their group. So they assume that what he does must be sin. They assume that he is a charlatan, or in league with evil forces.
They have all sorts of preconceptions that keep them from seeing God’s manifest work. They have an ideology that makes them blind. And we have this same danger today. It is easy for us to assume we know what the Bible must say, it is easy for us to assume that we know who is and is not of the Kingdom. We assume too easily that discernment has been accomplished, or that is unneeded. We might be like the pharisees who too readily have the answers, and are rendered blind.
But how might we see? In the case of the man born blind, why, it’s as simple as he was once lost and was found was blind but now he sees. Sometimes it’s as simple as the work of grace in our lives. And, you know, when you see it’s hard to interpret that for others. Very hard. And takes a lot of grace.
But to put it to the point. How might we know if a preacher is a true preacher, the Spirit is alive in a given Church, if a revival is a revival, if someone has truly received the new birth? How do we know if God has called someone into his Kingdom? Or if God has called us to a particular work? How do we discern the work of God in our midst? It’s easy to say we were once blind and now see. But what about us spectators?
It can be hard to see beyond your nose. If we don’t want to fall into the pharisees error it takes humility. It takes courage. It takes patience. It takes prayer. It takes not just our own individual discernment, but discernment with the whole Church. It takes clear and evident spiritual fruit. It takes the grace of God, in the end, to keep our eyes open. To guide us to his light.